Cheap CGI much?

I was rewatching AUJ (a painful experience to say the least!) and I noticed this:



Is it just me or are those trolls very poorly CGI'd? Their clothing folds and cracked stone seem to be done purely using textures, with no actual 3D modelling involved. I mean, Skyrim and even Oblivion had far better 3D-modelling than that! What's up with this? Has anyone spotted similarly "cheap" CGI in AUJ?  

Not to mention the fact that it is very obviously layers of different pictures. I am really struggling to watch it, in all honesty, although that is partially the dreadful script.  

Can't speak in technical terms, but the CGI didn't look right to me. But I could have forgiven the subpar CGI if the script was better.

Yep, I think AUJ had so much more CGI in it than LotR that it ended up being a rush job in comparison. And for no reason: we didn't need 5 minutes of stone giants, or an albino orc, or sleigh pulling bunnies, or wargs chasing the same, or...probably a good portion of what's coming up.

agreed it seems all the cgi stuff didnt add to the film but dragged it down into bargin bucket territory.

This was one of the worst shots for me in terms of CG.



Noticed it when I first saw the movie in the theater, and Mike even mentions it in the Half in the Bag review. It's a very bad composite.

The effects in lotr were there for the most part to try and benefit the movie, this time it's the other way around. Parts of the movie are being rushed and filled in with cgi much like a bandage to a broken arm.

I think perhaps that most of the CGI budget went to Smaug.

Which version of Smaug?- I wonder how much money was wasted on the various versions they fully rendered before Pj changed his mind again? Probably more money than most films get for their entire effects budget.
I read somewhere these films cost many times the LotR's trilogy, and boy have they pissed it all away.  

what I love about LOTR is that nerds in sheds making sets out of bits of plywood and glue thing. It has a noble history with Dr Who and the post war Make Do and Mend mentality. The irony is it is not only beautiful and a proper craft, but it looks better than millions of quid worth of technology.

The thing I find odd is Pj was one of the biggest cheerleaders for all that stuff- he began is film making career as the epitome of the make it yourself and make do film maker.
He has a genuine love for the original stop motion Kong, and for classic Who and Ray Harryhausen ect

I do find his abandonment of all that in favour of what is still in my view a poorer alternative odd, due to still being in its infancy- it reminds me of Who effects- the miniature and model effects of the 60's and 70's are bad in places, but infinitely preferable  to the early 80's computer effects and blue screen effects- it was more cutting edge but it was not refined enough yet to replace the old techniques that had been refined and perfected for generations of effects people.

In Th a classic example of this is the scaling effects are not as convincing because the limitations of the new technology mean the long tried and trusted false perspective techniques ect no longer work.
The replacement techniques dont have the experience behind them yet and so the end result looks worse than most of the scaling in LotR's.

And nothing dates a film like cgi- improvements are so constant and so continuous that quickly a look becomes dated- try watching the Lawnmower Man now for  good example. I can remember being impressed by this at the time and thinking it looked horrible and dated within five years-

its like he got a new plaything (the new tech) and started obsessing about it. Thats what nerds do. I do it I get a new interest and obsess about it for ages until I get bored. I reckon he is doing something similar but on a million dollar level. Imagine he has unlimited budgets to play with, I think he just lost interest in the story and just wanted to tool around with the toys.

It's funny that the 20-year old Jurassic Park effects are still effective, though of course, those are not all CGI.

what? wait....there's real Dinos??????  wayhey!

Saw a DOS tv spot during the Vikings/Ravens game. Get ready for even more CGI and even more fakey fake! Everything went by so fast in the tv spot that it was hard to spot new stuff, but I did see Ass-hog astride his white waaaaguh.

I agree with Bungo about the Bilbo snot shot. That jumped out at me in theatres and when I tried to rewatch AUJ last night it was just as glaring as the first time. The difference when it cuts to the shot of Bilbo hitting the forest floor just drives home how bad the previous shot was.

bungobaggins wrote:Saw a DOS tv spot during the Vikings/Ravens game. Get ready for even more CGI and even more fakey fake! Everything went by so fast in the tv spot that it was hard to spot new stuff, but I did see Ass-hog astride his white waaaaguh.

I'm rather crabbit about the Vikings myself. Come on Ray, punch it in!

At this point, a win really doesn't matter for the Vikings.  But at least they're trying. They seem to be doing better with Cassel in as QB, but now Peterson is out!  

I like Peterson, so at least I don't have to feel bad about him losing today. And I'm very glad we have Pitta back, he elevates Flacco (though not to an "elite" level ).

Ravens just got a TD, Vikes will definitely bite the dust here.

And they got the 2 point conversion??? Vikings couldn't get that if the entire defense was on the side lines!  

So much for that TD now.

WTF, Ravens.

Will the Ravens be CGI

bungobaggins wrote:This was one of the worst shots for me in terms of CG.



Noticed it when I first saw the movie in the theater, and Mike even mentions it in the Half in the Bag review. It's a very bad composite.

Wait, hold up...time out. Who's picking up Bilbo?   At first I thought it might be Smaug, but saw the fingers. Is that supposed to be Beorn? If so the perspective WAY off.

Need I even mention this scene ain't in the book?

It's a troll...

Pretty sure the trolls were in the book.

Edit: simulpost.

Radaghast wrote:Will the Ravens be CGI

Maybe they'd be better at tackling if they were.

YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME.